Bones of Jesus & Mary Magdalene found!

According to Christian teachings, after Jesus was resurrected he ascended to heaven.

Referring to Luke (what do you expect from a former Methodist-educated bloke like me), after the crucifixion the women close to Jesus carried spices to the sepulchre before dawn.

The Good Book also said prior to their arrival an angel frightened the guards at the sepulchre away by demonstrating frightening light display (neon or strobe lights?), and then rolled away the stone that sealed the tomb, and waited for Jesus’ womenfolk to arrive.

I wonder, while waiting for the girls, he/she (angels were supposed to be androgynous) crossed his/her legs and rested his/her elbows on the knees while cupping the chin in his/her hands a la Rodin's Thinker?

There is a book called “Who moved the stone?” or words to that effect. It was written by a lawyer who ‘saw the light’ (not the angel’s but in a religious sense). I was informed he wrote that book to argue the case for the Resurrection along legal lines.

A young Chinese preacher offered me that book when he was trying (initially most enthusiastically) to convert me. We had a chit-chat about the Bible. Let’s just say by the end of that day, he was pissed off with me and gave up on my salvation.

When one of his flock asked him about my views (that person was present when I was debating with the dear Reverend, and later related to me what the pastor said) the preacher replied: “the Devil speaks through him”, the ‘him’ being me – kid you not!

Anyway, Mary Magdalene, Mary mum of Jesus, and Salome (Jesus sis – I read a book by an historian-archaeologist who said Mary had three hubbies and several children) approached the sepulchre and saw, goodness, the stone was rolled back. BTW, 'twas Mark who said this, because the ladies that good old Luke wrote as going to the tomb numbered 12, among whom were Mary Magdalene, Joanna and Susanna.

OK, without getting bogged down by apostolic differences the ladies saw the angel at the sepulchre, who waved grandly towards the empty tomb and flamboyantly proclaimed to them the obvious, the Resurrection.

He/she told them to go forth and … no, not multiply but ... spread the good word to Peter - the one who thrice denied Christ 'ere the cock crowed – yea and all that stuff, including a promise that they would see Jesus again in Galilee.

OK, there were also other incidents that convinced the disciples that Jesus had arisen. In those days, angels weren’t so shy and appeared a number of times to the disciples.

The Man himself appeared to Peter so the latter couldn’t possibly deny the Resurrection. In fact Jesus was said to appear to all the apostles with the sole exception of KTe … er … I mean … doubting Thomas. In fact Jesus even ate a fish and some honeycomb in their company.

I remember this because my school principal ‘helped’ me (ouch, yes sir) not to forget Luke 24:36-43.

But the above belief is now threatened by a recent claim that in a 2000-year old cave (burial chamber) found 26 years ago in Jerusalem's Talpiyot neighbourhood, there were 10 stone coffins containing the remains (bones) of Jesus, Mary Magdalene and their son Judah.

one of the coffins

That Jesus and Mary Magdalene were an item has been debated regularly and openly for the last several decades in countless documentaries and non-fiction books (eg. Holy Blood & Holy Grail), with the best known book being, unfortunately, a work of fiction (I won’t name it ‘cause if you don’t know what I am referring to, you must have been sleeping for the last twenty years).

Of the 10 ossuaries, six have inscriptions which carry the names ‘Jesus son of Joseph’,’Mara’ (Maria Magdalene) and ‘Judah son of Jesus’. Of course, these are translations.

OK, here’s where the mystery deepens. One of the ossuaries went missing. The human remains inside were destroyed before any DNA testing could be carried out.

This is not the first time such a naughty thing had happened. The historian-archaeologist that I mentioned earlier also related another incident where bones that could have reveal interesting stuff disappeared inexplicably.

Most people who follow this sort of incidents suspect Israeli officials had intervened to prevent any incriminating evidence from coming out that would threaten Christian beliefs.

Now, you may think it strange that rightwing Israelis and Jews who dislike (even hate) the Christians immensely would bother to protect Christian beliefs, a religion founded on the teachings of what followers of Judaism consider to be an apostate heretic.

It’s all about politics, where the survival and viability of Israel depend on the support of the American Christian Right. And the beliefs of the American Christian Right, which motivate them to support the ‘Land where Hebrews walk again for the Second Coming’ of Christ, must be protected.

Perhaps that’s why it took years before the discovered ancient scrolls were released to international scholars. The Israelis and Catholic Church had first stab at the research and translation, working together in secrecy prior to the release, who knows, maybe to ‘vet’ those scrolls.

The new discovery of the Jesus' bones is being made into a document called The Burial Cave of Jesus by James Cameron, the director of Titanic, while a book on its discovery is about to be published. Look out for The Jesus Tomb by Simcha Jacobovici and Charles Pellegrino in Singapore or Haadyai because our wonderful government would probably ‘protect’ us from it.

PKR - once bitten, twice gatal

Looks like PKR hasn’t learnt its disastrous 2004 lesson. Read Another crack in captain-less PKR sampan at BolehTalk to see why.

Raja Bodek of Manchuko takes bus ride

A few days ago, my Penang kinfolk, Akhbar (no last name please) wrote to me – yes lau peng yu, I haven’t forgotten nor ignored you – I had a bit too much on my hands then.

Akhbar questioned Raja Bodek’s too-ready acquiescence to AAB’s awarding of the Penang non-transport system to RapidKL - sheesh, he virtually stumbled forward to kiss the hands of the Sleeping Non-Beauty, as Akhbar named the later.

It seems that Raja Bodek abdicated his authority as well as abandoned his promise to representatives from Citizens for Public Transport (Cepat) at a meeting last year that the new tender for bus operations in the state would be opened to local operators.

Hardly surprising for a tok ampu like Raja Bodek, but blame Penangites for being idiots in voting for him - BTW, I'm a Penangite too and very ashamed of my Island kinfolks for supporting Raja Bodek - but if they come to their senses, they may yet have a second chance, pretty soon.

He was said to have requested for RapidKL to take over the bus services. As Chubby Checker said: "How low can you go!"

Akhbar has been pissed off because Raja Bodek had acted as if Penang does not have the expertise to run the bus business profitably.

Once upon a dignified time, long before Raja Bodek appeared on the scene (of course), Penangites ran four bus services that served the Island effectively. Many old-timers mourned the disappearance of the Green, Blue, Yellow and even the plodding Beige.

Save OurSelves (SOS) secretary Ong Boon Keong said RapidKL’s entrance exposed the weakness and cringe of the Raja Bodek's party in the state government, whom most Penangites know to be nothing more than just a puppet administration dancing to the UMNO strings.

Ong said sadly what Akhbar had lamented: "When the state government can't do its job, it gives up its control to the federal government. It's a total surrender of the Penang people's right to control and operate their own transport system."

Ong "We have given up state control over the sewage system, water supply and now buses" while of course, Raja had long given up control of his ... er ... dhoti (cawat).

But Akhbar smelled a rat besides a cringing giant-keris-waving Raja. He even paraphrased Shakespeare’s Hamlet by stating: “Hey, I smell something rotten in the state of Penang.”

He asked some pertinent questions:

1. Who will they be buying the buses from? Would it be, for example, M-trans, a Scomi subsidiary?

2. If so, is the Raja Bodek’s ‘request’ for RapidKL to take over a ‘bunga emas’* set-up?

* a traditional tribute by a subordinate ruler to a superior ruler

In other words, was Raja Bodek trying to please ‘someone’ to protect as well as consolidate his iffy position in view of the coming elections?

Could it have been a trade-off with Taikoh* to preserve his Manchuko-ish throne?

you tell me if it's not Raja Bodek minus glasses

Wiki photo of ruler of Manchuko

Akhbar also wondered about the federal financing of RM50 million for the RapidKL takeover including the monorail project? Bruder, don’t forget the beneficiary of PORR as well?

Since Akhbar had paraphrased Shakespeare's Hamlet, let me paraphrase King Henry II's words: "Who will for me vote out this obsequious puppet?"

UMNO surat layang = early elections

If I am forced ;-) to point out an UMNO person that I can respect for doing his parliamentary job reasonably well, I would pick Johor Baru MP Shahrir Abdul Samad.

He was the bloke who had the decency, guts and conscientious parliamentary responsibility to stand up and be counted against the notorious Cyclops in the Monkey House of Malaysia. The Cyclops was the man who told Malaysian Customs to ‘close one eye’ to one of his import ‘activities’.

Cyclops was also the so-called parliamentarian who shamelessly made a shocking stupid scandalous shameless sickening scuzzy sexist sexual innuendo to a lady (DAP) parliamentarian, but then, he showed he's a sick sleazy scumbag. I also posted that in Monkey Business in Big Monkey House, in which I wrote:

I also discussed that Cyclops averred many of our local performers and dancers of the National Culture and Heritage Academy were ‘soft’, and demanded the academy address the issue.

A Rocket lady then objected: “No matter if the performers are hard or soft, fat or slim, pretty or ugly, they deserve basic respect.”

In an unmitigated sexual innuendo, Cyclops asked the lady: “I understand what you mean, but you like hard or soft?”

Just to remind everyone, Cyclops' obscene allusion was stated in the Big Monkey House. Look, I couldn't possibly use another term to describe the place, given Cyclops' unruly behaviour.

Most senior Rocket Man said Cyclops had no moral authority to be in the so-called august place as he had brought shame to that place. But the one-eye simian is still allowed to continue his monkey business, hence it's only appropriate I refer to his antics as monkeying in the Big Monkey House.

So until the Big Monkey House purges itself of monkeys, apes, gorillas and baboons, especially the one-eyed specie, it shall have to accept it's one Big Monkey House.

But in truth, even real monkeys know about shame, hence I apologise to the real monkeys.

Well, now you know where the Monkey House was/is. It’s where the ruling pack of apes makes monkeys either out of the hallowed institution or of us (the gullible masochistic voters), by their monkey business including their shameless tribal protection of Cyclops.

As a result of Shahrir Abdul Samad admirable stand for parliamentary propriety, in supporting Lim Kit Siang’s motion to refer Cyclops to the Parliamentary Committee on Privileges, he was slapped down by his own party and lost his appointment as the chairman of the parliamentary backbenchers club (yes, he resigned, but his resignation was accepted by UMNO leaders with disgraceful alacrity).

So what’s the latest on Shahrir Abdul Samad?

Well, it seems ‘someone’ (singular or plural) whispered he was married to Robert Kuok’s daughter. Shahrir believed that nonsense could have been passed around because he (Shahrir) was outspoken on controversial issues.

He said Kuok has no daughter (what? blast!) and that should hopefully dispel the rumours his wife is related to Malaysia's richest man Tan Sri Robert Kuok.

He spoke at a Johor Baru Umno forum on education: "Many people think that a politician who makes a lot of noise must be very rich, and that I, because I may have about 10 per cent of the Kuok fortune which is about RM2 billion to RM3 billion, I can afford to say anything that I like."

"I have a Chinese wife but she is from Ipoh, not from Johor. I am not at all related to him (Robert Kuok). I didn't marry his daughter, I didn't marry his niece and I didn't marry any Kuok. These are all rumours."

Looks like the infamous UMNO’s surat layang (political poison pen) has taken off again – election must be very near and party pre-selection is approaching.

Sugar Canes & Hokkiens

Read on why Penang Hokkiens (or Hokkiens in general) consider the 9th day of the Chinese new year as their MOST auspicious day of the year, and why they celebrate it more importantly than the 1st day, and the significance of sugar cane on this very special day - over at BolehTalk's posting Hokkien Chinese New Year

Way of the Penang water babies

Last year in September I posted The Penang Straits Swim.

It was about a Bernama report that 16-year-old Ahmad Shauqie Abdul Aziz, a student from Sekolah Menengah Abdul Aziz in Perak, swam 10 km across the Penang Strait in three hours 10 minutes.

Ahmad Shauqie did it all in the spirit of Malaysia Boleh, and to get into the Malaysia Book of Records for being the youngest person to swim across the Straits solo without using a cage. His brother and personal trainer, Azmin, accompanied him in a boat to ensure his safety.

I commented that Penangites would be proud to know that Ahmad Shauqie was born in Penang. Shauqie said that he was proud for having succeeded in setting a record as the youngest swimmer to have swim across the Straits.

While I congratulated Ahmad Shauqie for his feat, I also pointed out that many others had done it eons before. I didn’t want to disappoint him about his claim to being the first youngest to swim that leg, though he could make a claim for a place in the Malaysia Book of Records, because in those days no record was taken for the following reason.

Then, I brought out what most Penangites know, about the swimming prowess of the boys in a Penang school called the Anglo-Chinese School (ACS), subsequently becoming the Methodist Boys’ School after Merdeka. I wrote:

Those newspapers reports should be able to show that the ACS had annual cross-Penang Straits swim where several dozens, if not hundreds of their students and teachers took the plunge from Butterworth and swam across to, I was told by an old timer, the Chinese Swimming Club in Tanjung Tokong.

Then no sophisticated cage existed, nor bananas eaten. It was just an annual school swim by ACS students with strong encouragement from and training by teachers who themselves were powerful swimming instructors - most instructed at the Chinese Swimming Club.

Some of the students were very very young, studying in the old Form III's to Form V's. Using my own age just as a rouge gauge, I was in the equivalent of Form V at 16, so I would surmise those swimmers must have been very young.

Well, the Star Online indicated that in 1957, 12-year old Kuan Guat Choo swam the Penang Channel, though she drifted down south to Pulau Jerejak, a fact making her swim distance even longer. In subsequent years, there could well be even younger kids (especially from ACS/MBS) taking the plunge during the school annual swim to cross the Penang Channel. So she might well not even be the youngest - aiyah, we Penangites were and, I suppose, still are extraordinary people, Raja Bodek notwithstanding.

12-year old Guat Choo and dad

I reproduce the Star Online article (plus all 3 photos) in full, starting with a letter by Guat Choo and then the article titled 'Hats off to the Water Baby':

To every child, their father is the best and likewise for me though I am no child but a very senior citizen. My father, Mr Kuan Huah Oong, is an unforgettable character. He was in the swimming team that went to the China Olympics in Shanghai in 1948. He was the Secretary of the Penang Chinese Swimming Club for many years, and only relinquished the post when he went to work in Brunei in 1968. He used to raise funds to send teams down to Kuala Lumpur and Singapore to compete. He is now 85 and declining. It breaks my heart each time I look at him – a dashing young man reduced to this weak shell. If a feature on him were published, it would bring back many memories for his contemporaries.

– Kuan Guat Choo

It should have been his moment of glory! He was the first to complete the race in the inaugural Penang cross-channel swimming competition, which was held in 1957, and should have been basking in media attention and showers of congratulatory wishes.

Instead, Kuan Huah Oong got on a boat and went in search of his daughter who was among 200 swimmers still bobbing in the sea along the 4 km swim route.

“He found me way off course near Pulau Jerejak. Despite being dead tired and suffering from muscle cramps, he got out from the boat and swam with me,” recalls Kuan’s daughter Guat Choo.

“He would not let me hold on to him as that would be cheating. He told me to always finish what I've started despite the odds. He was 35 and I was 12, the youngest participant.”

Everyone has a hero and Guat Choo’s is clearly her father.

Thus, it pains her to see how a man who had embraced life with such zest is now vegetating after suffering a series of strokes.

“My father can't talk and I'm not even sure if he recognises me nowadays,” says the 62-year-old grandmother.

Before the stroke, he was never the type who could sit at home and do nothing, she says. “Swimming was his life.”

Kuan was in the Malayan team that competed in the Seventh National Shanghai Games in 1948.

They emerged second in the team relay and he won third and fifth respectively in the individual 400m and 1,500m.

“The cold weather adversely affected their performance,” says Guat Choo, who has a photo of her father shivering by the pool in Shanghai.

She describes him as an unorthodox person who believes that accomplishments don't have to come with monetary rewards.

Kuan was working in the state immigration department before becoming a volunteer with the St John’s Ambulance during World War II in 1941.

As a volunteer, he brought the injured to the hospital, the dead to the mortuary and any jewellery he found on these persons to the hospital supervisor.

“It was at a dispersal camp for war refugees in Thean Teik Estate (now Bandar Baru Air Itam) that he met my mum and romance blossomed between them,” says Guat Choo, smiling.

Her mother Lim Pek Hock, 83, adds: “It amused me to hear him singing O Sole Mio and Serenade at the top of his lungs when he bathed in the public shower cubicles.

“During our courtship, he would climb coconut trees like a monkey to get the fruit for me because I like to drink coconut water.”

After the war, he joined the state information department but he resigned soon after because his superiors wanted to transfer him to Kelantan. He then opened a bicycle shop at his house in York Road.

“He seemed to have a knack for anything he set his mind to,” Guat Choo relates.

“During a family vacation in Cameron Highlands, his old Renault overheated and broke down. He hiked to the nearest stream to get water for the car.

“And when the car stalled, he fixed it with only one tool – my mother's hair pin!” she laughs, adding that he had bought the car from the Thai consulate for RM700.

Kuan learnt to swim by dog paddling at the age of 12 in a stream near his house.

Fearing that he would drown, his family forbade him to go out swimming. So, when he returned home each day, one of his older brothers would touch his belly button to see if it was cold. This was to test if he had been in the water.

Each time he failed the test, his brother would whack him, but Kuan was undeterred.

When he was studying at the Anglo Chinese School (now Methodist Boys’ School), he joined its swimming class in 1938. However, he turned out to be the worst student there and was expelled as a result.

This further fuelled his resolve to succeed, and he began to watch national swimming champ Kee Soon Bee practise at the Chinese Swimming Club.

He was elated when Kee offered to teach him. In his first swimming competition under the club in the same year, he came out third.

Soon, he went on to win in other meets. In 1959, Kuan was elected as the club's captain and after two years, became its secretary.

According to Guat Choo, he often took his students to Ipoh, Kuala Lumpur and Singapore for swimming events.

“He raised funds for these low-budget trips by publishing souvenir programme books and seeking sponsors. They would travel third class by train and only ate at coffeeshops.

“Sleeping arrangements were usually in a club where they slept on camp beds. He once told me how they ordered a bowl of bah kut teh to be shared among 10 people. Glory was only in the participation,” she says.

In 1966, Kuan represented Malaysia in the Royal Life Saving Society in London where he attended a dinner at the Buckingham Palace and was presented to Queen Elizabeth II.

Kuan with the late Princess Margaret

“During the toast, he raised his glass of water while everyone else had wine,” Lim relates.

“Curious, Princess Margaret asked him about his action. He told her that he had promised his wife that he would not drink.”

Two years later, Kuan, fondly referred to by his friends as the “water baby,” was offered a job as superintendent in Brunei’s first swimming pool. He served for the next 15 years, and among his students were members of the Brunei Royal family, the Royal Brunei Police Force and the Women Police swimming and life saving team.

After retiring at the age of 62, her father would hike up Trail 84, which is the halfway mark to Penang Hill, daily at 2pm, says Guat Choo.

At the rest point, he built a shelter where he brewed tea for hikers. This was his daily routine until he suffered the first of three strokes in 1992. However, hikers can still enjoy tea at the shelter as his friends have continued the practice.

formidable Penang water-baby dad and daughter 50 years later

Kuan now lives with his daughter and wife at their home in Lengkok Barat, Penang. He has three children, three grandchildren and a great granddaughter.

I salute these Boleh Malaysians.

Dr Mahathir: "No such thing as moderate Muslim"

Now, here’s a man who doesn’t believe in conventional play-safe behaviour. If he were a chess player, I dare say his opening would be, if playing white, f2-f4 (or in older English notation P-Q4 – I think?) – aggressive and seeking to dominate the board.

Yes, our Grand Ole Man (GOM), Dr Mahathir Mohamad, disabused us of notions that there need to be ‘moderate’ Muslims. In fact, he told Muslims to cease and desist from declaring themselves as 'moderate' or 'liberal' followers of Islam.

Why - one may ask of such a radical breath-stealing ‘opening’. Well, the GOM said that’s because the religion is indeed moderate, so why the need for tautological cringing* (or, cringing tautology).

* well, actually he didn't use these 2 words, but KTemoc availed hinself of blogger's licence ;-)

Indeed, the GOM advised Muslims to stop being so defensive by labelling themselves with an unnecessary adjective that would only encourage a false impression where ‘moderate’ or ‘liberal’ Muslims were only part of the followers of Islamic teachings, while the rest were ‘inmoderates’ and the ‘illiberals’, in other words bloody ‘extremists’.

How about that for ‘assertiveness’! But that’s vintage GOM, and that’s why the Western and Jewish worlds dislike him – how dare this brown skinned Asian talk so impertinently - how dare this 3rd World leader not cringe and submittingly accept the West's labelling, definition and classification of his ilk.

GOM as Perkim president advised delegates at the opening ceremony of the 45th Annual General Meeting (AGM) of the Muslim Welfare Organisation of Malaysia (Perkim):

"Islam is already a moderate religion ... there is no need for us to show that are more liberal Muslims than others. We are Muslims ... period."

That’s confidence with a capital-C.

Then, what about blokes like Osama bin Laden and gang, and Noordin Top or the late Dr Azahari?

Dr Mahathir explained that if some Muslims were labelled extremists, it was not because of the teachings of Islam. Basically those misfits lack understanding of the teachings or were manipulating the religion for their own agenda

This was a re-iteration of his previous argument that 'funndamentalist Islam' is actually the correct Islam and not the racidal extremist version that has been incorrectly labelled by so-called (mostly Western) experts who don't understand Islamic teachings.

I believe those Western writers used the word 'fundamentalist' in relation to the Christian fundamentalists, who believe in each and every word in the Bible as literally true. Well, trust GOM not to accept Western-centric nor Biblical-centric labelling.

Then he said something that would be more relevant to today’s Islamic movement (including PAS') - that "no one would be interested to join a religion whose followers are seen as losers".

"People will only be attracted when there is a successful track record...as such only when Muslims become successful in all spheres or better than others in them can we successfully carry out effective missionary activities."

"We must encourage followers who want to be successful and competitive. We should show that Islam does not stand in the way of followers who want to attain great achievements."

He also demolished a few folkflore still upheld by local Malay Muslims. He commented that there were certain locals who claimed Malays had converted to Islam during the time of Prophet Mohamad, some 1400 years ago when in fact they only did so about 600 to 700 years back.

See my previous postings:
(1) ‘bin Abdullahs’ celebrating Chinese New Year!
(2) Being ‘bin Abdullahs’ is not enough

It’s a bit like the attitude of some Chinese (and Japanese) martial art practitioners, who want (and invent) a lineage that traces the origin of their martial art to an old Taoist sage-hermit that sat on Emei or Kunlun Mountains some thousand of years ago, and probably surviving on only kua-chee* and organic mountain-grown tea.

* water-melon seeds

He also wandered into the international arena where he attributed the conflict between the Jews and Muslims in Palestine to the Israelis confiscating Palestinian lands rather than religions.

He said: "That is the main reason, not because Muslims and Jews cannot live together. History has proven that ... this conflict is because Muslims lost their homes and lands."

I believe his advice in this respect is more likely to encourage non-Muslim Malaysians to be more sympathetic to the Palestinian cause, as they would then see it for what it is, a cause for justice rather than one with an Islamic jihad-ist motive, and thus UMNO's interest.

Some non-Muslim Malaysians are even quietly supporting Israel for no other reason than wanting to poke UMNO (and to a lesser extent, PAS) in their noses - a case of hitting out at surrogate targets.

See my posting on Malaysians Split over Palestine & Lebanon

A rose by any other name …

What's in a name? That which we call a rose
By any other word would smell as sweet

- William Shakespeare, Romeo and Juliet (II, ii, 1-2)

I’ve posted May the Dude Bless You at BolehTalk.

It’s a rather cleverly written letter to malaysiakini that I want to share with you. It's all about the saying "A rose by any other name …”

Let there by Darkness & Ignorance!

"Where they burn books, they will end in burning human beings"

- Christian Johann Heinrich Heine from his play Almansor (1821)

Henrich Heine was a German Jew (Jewish dad, Prussian mum) who converted to Christianity. His famous quote on the burning of books actually referred to the burning of the Quran by the Catholic Church during the terrible Spanish Inquisition.

As if he foresaw the fate of his books, Heine’s literary work was burnt by the Nazis. But sadly for a Jew, just because he converted to Christianity, his name was shunned by Israelis for a while until very recent times. The more religious Israelis considered him a traitor, though the Jewish secularists looked upon him as one of the most prominent figures of Jewish history.

The most nototrious burnings of books were (1) at the original Library of Alexandria (I believe there is a new one sponsored by the UN), (2) during the Chinese Qin dynasty where true to Heine’s words, the Emperor had the scholars buried alive (variation of being burnt), and (3) the Church’s burning of 'non-compliant' books throughout the centuries.

As mentioned in the Heine’s case, the Nazis had more than a few manuscript-fed bonfires as well. Then in an ironic twist to the Naziism’s book burning, we have today’s Europeans playing double standards in their 'book burning'.

On one hypocritical hand, the Europeans insist on non-negotiable freedom of expression as in the case of the caricature insults of Prophet Mohamad (pbuh), while on the other, in shameless loss of memory of their declaration of free expression, they prohibit works of Holocaust deniers such as David Irving and other loonies, and even jailed Irving in recent times for merely questioning the actual use of the concentration camps crematorium where the bodies of murdered Jews were burnt.

Read Europe's Dilemma - Holocaust Denial vs Caricatures which I should have titled 'Europe's Hypocrisy - Holocaust Denial vs Caricatures'.

You can’t have it both ways or it's blatant double standards. The Europeans must adopt one (freedom of expression for everyone) or the other (ban works insensitive to religions, culture and ethnicity). I hope there's a lesson here for the AAB government, particularly on its media policy.

Oops, I spoke too soon. Not to be out-Boleh, we Malaysians should be 'proud'(?) we have our annual ‘book burning’ in the form of the government's ban of books, the latest being a list of 50 over books including March 8, a book on the 2001 Kampung Medan conflict.

The human rights groups are crying foul - fundamental rights to freedom of expression and information, blah blah blah - but does the government care, knowing the majority of the voters wouldn’t have the faintest.

The statement of ‘the majority of the voters not having the faintest’ is not unique to Malaysia because we see the same characteristic in the USA, where most Americans haven't a clue as to what their goverment and military and industry have been and are doing to the rest of the world, even re-electing a moronic warmonger like the current President Bush.

In Australia, I dare say 95% of Australians haven't a bloody clue about the difference between the Taliban and al Qaeda, a distinction that’s important to the current case of Guantanamo Bay detainee, Australian David Hicks who fought with the Taliban (then US' buddy, now US' enemy) against the Soviet-backed Northern Alliance (then US' enemy, now US' buddy).

But let's not be too narrow when we take about books. We should also include films.

Poor Amir Muhammad is suffering a déjà vu frustration with his latest film Apa Khabar Orang Kampung. Like his previous film, The Last Communist, Apa Khabar Orang Kampung is also banned.

For more on Amir’s original film, please read:

(1) Why isn't 'Last Communist' a Malay?
(2) Tremble - Last Communist Cometh!
(3) The Last Communist or Communalist?

But probably the notoriety for most prolific book burning, short of the blasphemous desecration of valuable tomes in ancient Alexandria, has to be awarded to the Catholic Church - sorry Lucia, but you’re a sterling Penang nona*, you can take it ;-).

* KTemoc is showing off his Indon ;-) where 'nyonya' is a Mrs, while 'nona' is still a Miss

In the 13th century, the Catholic Church destroyed every Cathar textbook. Two centuries later, the fearsome Torquemada (if you don't who he is, you are lucky) ordered the burning of non-Catholic literature, especially Jewish Talmuds and Arabic books.

In Spain, the Archbishop of Granada, Cisneros, was responsible for the destruction of over one million Arabic and Hebrew books from (stating the bloody burning obvious) one of the richest collections in history, virtually another Alexandria.

Much earlier, in 367 CE, Athanasius, bishop of Alexandria, revered/respected by the three Christian churches (Orthodox, Catholic and Protestant) instructed the destruction of all ‘non-conforming’ texts from the Christian monasteries of Egypt.

Now, we come to the Muslims. Around 650 CE, Uthman ibn Affan, the 3rd Caliph of Islam ensured that there was only one authoritative written version of the Quran, by ordering the destruction of competing versions. At that time, there were three versions including the codices of Abdullah ibn Masud and Ubayy ibn Kab (I think?).

The burning and banning of books (no difference) has always been conducted by authorities to suppress dissenting (secular) or heretical (religious) views that could present a threat to them.

The saddest example of Heinrich Heine’s saying occurred in 1553, when Michael Servetius, a Spanish intellect, was burned as an heretic at the order of the city council of Geneva on a remark in his translation of Ptolemy's Geography. When they toasted him (literally) at the stake, one of his books, Christianismi Restitutio, was tied to his waist.

John Calvin, a French protestant and one of the founding fathers of Calvinism (hey, can’t blame Catholics all the time) who was in many ways responsible for Servetus execution by fire, said in fanatical tones:

Whoever shall maintain that wrong is done to heretics and blasphemers in punishing them makes himself an accomplice in their crime and guilty as they are.

There is no question here of man's authority; it is God who speaks, and clear it is what law he will have kept in the church, even to the end of the world.

Wherefore does he demand of us a so extreme severity, if not to show us that due honor is not paid him, so long as we set not his service above every human consideration, so that we spare not kin, nor blood of any, and forget all humanity when the matter is to combat for His glory.

Oh, don’t forget to include the banning of newspapers and harrassment/persecution of bloggers ;-) as among the sins of book burning and banning. It’s the sin of denying people the right to know, the right to information, the right to think, the right to freedom of expression.

Wasn’t it Siddharta Gautama (Buddha) who said: “The greatest gift is the gift of Truth”.

But the Malaysian government’s version is probably “The greatest gift is the gift of the citizens’ Ignorance”, probably borrowed from the three leaders of the Collusion of the Swindling.

KTemoc apologises to AAB

This morning I posted Terengganu born-again morality, but for what? where I lambasted the Terengganu state government for resorting to a holier-than-thou campaign to out-PAS PAS.

Reader mich asked why I had referred to the term ‘born-again’ – well mich, it’s a poke in the eye at UMNO’s hypocrisy when it comes to agama because that party is more about bangsa.

I also criticised AAB for quietly condoning the State government’s nonsensical snoop squad because reading the Star Online’s report, which stated AAB rang up Idris Jusoh, the Terengganu MB, about the Mat Skoding squad, he failed to make a statement condemning the stupid oppressive peeping tom idea.

I wonder why he had not maintained the same standard of demanding a dismantling of the snoop squad as he had done with the Malacca and FT people.

Looks like I have to eat my words, because AAB has just commented that the use of spies by religious authorities to catch couples engaging in activities deemed ‘immoral’ would be tantamount to invasion of privacy.

He wants Malaysian religious authorities to concern themselves with far more important and urgent issues facing the Muslim community.

Firstly, I apologise to AAB for being too hasty in criticising him. I am not even going to get out of the apology by arguing that he could have been far more responsive. What he has done is good.

Therefore, secondly I congratulate him for making the right statement about correct prioritisation by the religious authorities and respect for the privacy of individuals.

Aiyah, gimme some tauyu and pepper please.

Terengganu born-again morality, but for what?

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Anwar Ibrahim + KJ versus Najib?

On Sunday I posted my belief that we ought to expect an early general election because of the barrage of 'jolly good’ news from the government and mainstream media.

Six days later, that’s today, malaysiakini reported that Anwar Ibrahim gave the same prediction, that the BN will probably hold the election at the end of this year or beginning of 2008.

That he agreed with me is not interesting because probably millions of other Malaysians would have thought along the same line.

There is no doubt that Malaysians are growing more and more tired of, and frustrated and disgusted with AAB and the BN. Mind you, he still commandeers some support, of people who are reluctant to make dramatic changes. So, with the writing on the wall that his support base grows weaker each day, he will go for an early election before worse damage sets in, basically a ‘half loaf is better than none’ approach.

But far more interesting news relate to what I had posted in Odyssey of Anwar Ibrahim? (2) where I averred that Anwar Ibrahim is still awaiting for a ’come home, we need you’ call from UMNO, or at best (for us), joining the DAP rather than poor pitiful pathetic doomed-loser PKR.

I have been consistent in my suspicion of Anwar Ibrahim's sincerity as an opposition leader - reflect on what I posted in Bringing Anwar Ibrahim back to UMNO?:

Once one has tasted and enjoyed the sweet sheer power of Malaysian top politics, as one would at the top echelons of UMNO like Anwar once had, one would be reluctant to do the hard yards again like those old plodding born-losers DAP idealists or the snookered PAS leaders, or god forbid, the PKR neither-here-nor-there leaders.

So, when the Registry of Society informed PKR that Anwar Ibrahim could apply to have his ban from holding political office removed or reduced, I commented on that application which PKR averred it would lodge on behalf of its icon:

The … test is one of honouring the trust that many people have placed on Anwar Ibrahim as their political leader, even political messiah.

This is by far the most important issue for PKR, because PKR and its precursor KeADILan started off as a single-issue party - the single issue being justice and freedom for Anwar Ibrahim. While the party may have evolved a little, the leadership of Anwar Ibrahim is fundamental and indeed vital to the party’s continuing survival as a meaningful political entity.

But does Anwar Ibrahim want to be the president of PKR?

The underlining reflects my belief all along.

Well, when malaysiakini interviewed him early this week, asking him to comment on reports that he has been (unanimously) nominated for and will be made PKR president, he tap-danced niftily away from a straight answer by beating around the bush, saying meaninglessly: "I would have to consider and study the nominations."

What is there to consider? He has been nominated unanimously by his party, meaning there’s only one candidate for the party's presidency. Either he agrees to be the new PKR president or he doesn’t want the post.

But even far more significant, when he was at a ceramah in Kuching later, Anwar singled out DPM Najib for criticism. Mind you, not AAB or Khairy Jamaluddin but only Najib.

He shot Najib on issues of the gruesome murder of Mongolian national Altantunya Shariibu, where Najib’s close associate, Abdul Razak Baginda, was one of those charged in connection with the case. Anwar also bored into Najib on the dodgy distribution of commission for the purchase of submarines and fighter jets.

Because his attacks focussed only on Najib, while omitting any criticism of AAB and Khairy Jamaluddin, political analysts raised their kay-poh-chnee antennae, refocusing them on early conspiracy speculations that Anwar is allegedly teaming up with Khairy to oust the deputy premier.

As I had blogged in Khairy's wagon hitched to Anwar's star? early last year:

[…] So what does Khairy do in the face of these rather daunting factors?

He knows he cannot be overly dependent on Pak Lah’s influence alone, so he has invested in Anwar Ibrahim, yes sirree, Mr Charismatic himself.

Khairy makes a point of remaining on good terms with the former powerful deputy PM. He realises there are still covert Anwar supporters in UMNO, therefore his strong (and secret?) link with Anwar may be beneficial to his ambitions.

He is thus rumoured to have effectively hitched his wagon to a fading star but nonetheless still a star.

Would that explain why Anwar is hemming and hawing about his commitment to stand as a PKR candidate, expecting some futuristic quid pro quo from Khairy?

As I said on Sunday:

I reckon Anwar Ibrahim may just waiting to see what monkey tricks UMNO will be up to? Will UMNO ignore him, or will it even invite Anwar back to the fold to ‘neutralise’ him?

Whether they can 'neutralise' him permanently is another question, but killing two birds (the 'neutralisation' and the sabotage of Najib) with one stone is very attractive.

Of course, an early election prior to the required lapse of 5 years for Anwar Ibrahim’s case is not a major issue, because with UMNO’s support and recommendation, the King can pardon and thus exempt him from the ban.

If all the above speculation come to be, I feel sorry for PKR supporters, except of course his core (former UMNO) cohorts who undoubtedly would 'see the light' and follow the iconic messiah into the 'Promised Land' of milk and honey, having wandered in the opposition wilderness for too long.

Related:
(1) Bringing Anwar Ibrahim back to UMNO?
(2) Khairy's wagon hitched to Anwar's star?
(3) Anwar oh Anwar ...
(4) Anwar Ibrahim & Silky Court Intrigues
(5) Anwar Ibrahim - severing the UMNO umbilical cord?
(6) Anwar Ibrahim on which boat?

Some politicians have only sex on their minds

Most bloggers, and probably most Malaysians, are bemused by the constant harping by some politicians on issues of sex – whether it’s about:

(1) some bizarre suggestions to prevent sex crimes like the use of chastity belts, and PAS’ current proposal to train women to be martial artists, or

(2) blaming women for being responsible for arousing men (eg. lipstick, perfume, gatal divorcees, dressing, gyrating Indonesian singer), or

(3) snoop squads, raids on elderly American tourists, nightclubs a la Zuok

As readers to my posting Mat Skoding - bounty hunters for gatal females commented, there are so many far more pressing and important issues to deal with, like injustice, poverty, corruption, social division, economy, education, natural disasters, the frightening threat of HIV-AIDS, just to name a few.

I am not sure whether it’s due to those politicians’ limited range and appreciation of political issues or sheer obsession with the sexual nature of society. One reader even suspects they (the pollies) have grubby sex on their own minds all the time.

Those pollies use religion as the overhead authority for their narrow-minded obsession when religious teachings have been far far far more embracing than just focusing on the some parts of the human anatomy.

But they leave us with faint hope of good political leadership, especially when their perennial 'victims', the targets of their bizarre policies, would usually be women.

Where's Towkay Mat Pasir?

Over at BolehTalk I've posted Singapore needs sand.

Can 'someone' help please?

Mat Skoding - bounty hunters for gatal females

Looks like the Malaysian Taliban-ish Peeping Toms are coming back.

In Terengganu, the UMNO state government has initiated an ‘ingenious’ plan (‘ingenious’? - wonder whether the Star reporter was sarcastic or what?) where Mat Skoding’s* or spies will be recruited to tip-off the state religious department of immoral activities, like cases of close proximity and vice.

* looks like the UMNO people like Mat-this and Mat-that, with one common denominator – these Mats will be trouble with a capital-T for everyone.

In other words, the Mat Skoding's will form a sneaky sh*t-smelling snoop squad (hey, I got 5 words starting with 's' in) of pervert pernicious peeping toms and tammys that the Malacca state government had previously proposed.

Frighteningly, these Mat Skoding’s will be vigilantes, meaning they would be 'voluntary' zealots like the American wild west possé in earlier pioneer years, who hanged anyone they accused of wrong doing.

The Mat Skoding’s will supposedly be under the guidance of state religious advisors, but that doesn’t mean a damn thing for our confidence because we still remember the Zuok club incident where JAWI (so-called religious) officers ogled and leered at those hapless women victims arrested in the nightclub and even forced those females to wee wee in front of their hot hungry hardup prying eyes.

On more of that JAWI disgrace, see my posting Morals, Power, Dominance, Teachers, Victims!

Rosol Wahid, Terengganu State Islam Hadhari and Welfare Committee chairman and nothing less than a Datuk, said: “Some of these ‘spies’ could be waitresses or even janitors at hotels acting as auxiliary undercover agents for our religious department.”

Great, just like insidious infamous informers of the Gestapo, Kempetai, KGB and the East German Stasi.

And of course he intends to reward the Mat Skoding’s financially for their pervert puerile peeping tip-offs, in the same manner another UMNO bloke intends to reward those Mat Rempit bounty hunters.

And just to give his supporters a titillating hand on hang on hard on, Rosol said the peeping toms would be on the lookout for unmarried couples behaving suspiciously throughout the state. He said those peeping toms and tammy’s would maintain surveillance at parks and secluded areas to pounce on dating couples intending to engage in sex.

Maybe they might even be hiding under one's bed?

I suppose some commercial sponsors will provide those peeping perverts with anti-mossy ointment or they might give the game away by slapping at the biting insects – my sympathies are with the mossies.

Rosol went on to provide us with the benefit of his ‘wisdom’. He opined that most of the rampant rape cases reported in Terengganu were actually those involving consensual sex, thus fortifying his argument for peeping toms rather than police or social workers.

Of course in Malaysia, especially on the peninsula East Coast, there's no thing as a rape or incest - it's just those loose lewd low morality gatal women. Predictable, isn't it?

Related:
Marina Mahathir Concerns over Eroding Rights

Giving away Penang's family jewels

I have blogged on the fears of many (Chinese) Penangites that the next UMNO CM will be from UMNO.

UMNO has cleverly employed the old British colonial strategy of ‘divide and rule’ against Gerakan and MCA, allocating state seats to the BN component party that would each be less than UMNO’s in Penang. A wee gerrymandering didn’t go amiss either.

But hey, what’s there to fear about something that could happen when it has already happened – I am referring to the CM’s post being already occupied de facto by UMNO, because Raja Bodek is nothing more than a pathetic ponen patung (p**f*er puppet) – Jeez, I have exceeded my usual standards of using three descriptive words starting with the same letter whenever I am mad.

Take a look at the Penang family jewels (including Bodek's personal ‘family jewels’), which have being given away, yes, given away (not sold) to mostly UMNO-linked companies (information courtesy of the DAP via malaysiakini). Penangites, read and weep:

(1) Tanjung Pinang Development, an UMNO-linked company, has reclaimed 392ha in the Tanjung Tokong coastal area. The area would be turned into a new township over the next few years. Guess who gets the lollies?

(2) A 13.2ha plot of reclaimed land was given for free to IJM Bhd to develop a new residential-commercial hub, which will house condominiums and a Tesco hypermarket, in Jalan Udini, about 500m from the Penang Bridge. For free? Were we Penangites ever asked?

(3) The proposed Penang Outer Ring Road (PORR) concessionaire, Peninsular Metroworks Sdn Bhd, has been bestowed the rights to reclaim 100ha sea land along the Gurney Drive coastline. Also see also my previous posting Who benefits directly from PORR?

(4) Besides reclaimed land, an existing Penang Development Corporation-owned 300ha land in Batu Kawan was gifted to Abad Naluri Sdn Bhd, another UMNO-based company.

Lucky Abad Naluri sold half of the land to the Penang Turf Club for horse training and racing development. But who was the bloody tooth-less fairy? And people, 'fairy' is a correct description of the scum who has, in the words of Penangites, sng-keh-hoi.

So what’s left for the poor Penangites? According to the DAP’s state secretary Danny Law Heng Kiang, the state government is estimated to have only 80 ha of land on the island and 2,000 ha on the mainland for development purposes.

He lamented that as a state which faces severe land scarcity, Raja Bodek sits quietly while UMNO-linked companies have been gifted with reclaimed land, when those assets should have been developed for new townships to cater for the housing needs of the middle and lower income groups.

I haven’t included number (5) to the list of Bodek-ish abominations but you can guess what it is – clue, the missing No (5) is not a political but a religious abomination. Still clueless? Please read on.

This posting is for mob1900 who wrote and illustrated so succinctly about such an Indecent Betrayal that I was compelled to reconsider the question of Chastity belt - perhaps a use for it afterall?

Related:
A willing captive of UMNO?

Chastity belts vs lady minister's sweet tango-ing

OK, there’s some hue and cry about a religious cleric recently recommending that women wear chastity belts to reduce the incidents of rape and incest.

Inevitably women’s groups have hit him with max ‘shock and awe’, including a rather clever Women Affairs minister, who demonstrated some sweet moves in her verbal tango-ing - end result has been her double-barrelled blast on the poor Pak Haji.

Now, while I don’t support the fair ladies being subjected to the portable ‘sexual Chubbs', I have posted my take on the issue in Chastity belt - perhaps a use for it afterall? over at BolehTalk.

Expect early general election

In Odyssey of Anwar Ibrahim? (2) I remarked on the possibility of the UMNO-led government thwarting Anwar Ibrahim’s political aspiration by announcing the date of the next general election prior to the end of ban on the former deputy PM participating in the general election.

Well, the Executive Director of the Malaysian Institute of Economic Research (MIER), none other than Professor Emeritus Dr Mohamed Ariff Abdul Kareem, was quoted as saying that “the country's present economic position was most stable with all the domestic economic fundamentals showing positive recovery and the government should take advantage of the situation to call for a general election.”

I don’t know whether his assessment has anything to do with the recent spate of government’s good news, for example:

(1) that our trade figures have exceeded the RM1,000,000,000,000 mark,
(2) Rafidah Aziz crowing over FDI figures,
(3) the PM himself claiming a recent (but unidentified, uncited and non-attributable) study showed that Malaysians enjoy a high standard of comfortable and happy family life under his regime,
(4) mainstream media trumpets a rosy economic outlook (but cautioned by the Chinese business sector),
(5) DPM Najib attempting to assure us that the government did not cook up the country’s encouraging economic figures and indicators to boost public confidence, because the World Bank/IMF check them, though in the bumi equity figures, we remember distinctly their duplicity and even naughty fibbing to involve the World Bank as sanctioning their dodgy stats – please see Minister misled Parliament by false claim.

Anyway, before the Opposition rushes out to print their candidate posters and start collecting campaign funds, Rural and Regional Development Minister Abdul Aziz Shamsuddin poo-poo-ed the suggestion that the AAB government would dissolve Parliament to make way for an early general election.

He said there were other pressing matters that needed to be attended to, especially the recent launch of the Ninth Malaysia Plan (9MP), alluded to by many quarters to be funded by a Singapore source to the tune of US$50 billion dollars – for more of the US$50 billion tale, see AAB's zoo - but who's the zookeeper?.

He said: "The Ninth Malaysia Plan had only started last year and the people may be asking about the results of the plan whereas it takes two or three years before the results can be seen. Thus if we have an early general election, those with ulterior motives will make all kinds of assumptions on the plans implemented by the government."

However, Abdul Aziz back-pedalled slightly and said that while he ruled out such a proposal, it did not mean that he was afraid to face the general election.

Well ……..

Gong Xi Fa Cai

Gong Xi Fa Cai to you, dear readers. Thank you, friends and fellow bloggers who wish me season’s felicitations.

KTemoc had the usual reunion dinner last night with my sis and family – the usual (but only slight) regrets this morning about eating and drinking too much, and late into the early morning too.

“… late into the early morning …”?

Is that contradiction in descriptions allowed? ;-)

Family believes this new lunar year will be good and I wish everyone a share of the anticipated good fortune. Hoe liao!

Odyssey of Anwar Ibrahim? (2)

Here are two very important 'tests' that will be watched eagerly by Parti Keadilan Rakyat (PKR).

The first test will be on the independence of the Registrar of Societies (ROS), which as a public service hitherto hasn't shown much of its independent neutrality:

Will the ROS, which is empowered under Section 9A (4) of the Societies Act to examine and consider the possibility of exempting or reducing the ban on Anwar Ibrahim from taking part in active politics (but not participating in elections), do so to permit him to become the president of PKR.

On Feb 11, PKR Selangor has agreed unanimously to nominate Anwar for the post of president at the party national congress scheduled in May. The post is currently held by his wife Dr Wan Azizah Wan Ismail.

ROS suggested that Anwar should take the first step of applying for the exemption or reduction, since it has not received any application from Anwar regarding the ban.

OK, PKR secretary-general Kamarul Baharin Abbas said the party will do so for Anwar.

ROS reminded everyone that it has no power over Anwar's participation in the election as that falls under election laws.

Because Anwar completed his first sentence on April 15, 2003 for his first conviction, elections laws prohibit him from returning to active politics until after April 2008.

Whether the UMNO-led government will spring an early general election prior to April 2008 is anybody’s guess.

The second test is one of honouring the trust that many people have placed on Anwar Ibrahim as their political leader, even political messiah:

This is by far the most important issue for PKR, because PKR and its precursor KeADILan started off as a single-issue party - the single issue being justice and freedom for Anwar Ibrahim. While the party may have evolved a little, the leadership of Anwar Ibrahim is fundamental and indeed vital to the party’s continuing survival as a meaningful political entity.

But does Anwar Ibrahim want to be the president of PKR?

I ask because I have the gut feeling he may have cosmonaut ambitions?

I reckon Anwar Ibrahim may just waiting to see what monkey tricks UMNO will be up to? Will UMNO ignore him, or will it even invite Anwar back to the fold to ‘neutralise’ him?

If UMNO doesn’t want him back, but won’t play dirty by advancing the 2008 general elections, then he may go for … 'nuff said, it's just crazy looney KTemoc speculating wildly.

Related:
Odyssey of Anwar Ibrahim?

Ali-Baba, where there's more than 40 thieves

I've posted Another Open Sesame to solve the Ali-Baba sickness? over at BolehTalk, where a leading Datuk Seri in the construction industry explained to AAB why bumi contractors were 'forced' to play the Ali-Baba game.

AAB had earlier expressed his disappointment, dismay and disgust at some bumi contractors who 'sold' out their NEP-khas contracts.

According to the Datuk Seri's amazing 'analysis', we ought to wonder why the famous Kajang satay and the equally famous Kampong Attap's nasi lemak weren't run by non-bumis decades ago.

Bridge from Earth to the PAS' Moon

From Mount Meru to the Moon – awesome!

… though that’s not how Gobalakrishnan, the head of the newly formed PAS Indian supporters club, said. Don’t blame him as he’s not as classically poetic as (blush blush) yours truly.

All Gobalakrishnan said was a more mundane “Tonight, we build a bridge that stretches from earth to the moon!”

But according to malaysiakini, he thundered when he made that declaration at PAS headquarters in Kuala Lumpur. Wow!

Oh, by the way, apart from being the head of the newly formed PAS Indian supporters club, Gobalakrishnan is also the head of Parti Keadilan Rakyat (PKR) national integration bureau.

… which may a reason why the DAP has been wary of PKR (except for the sole person of Anwar Ibrahim).

Gobalakrishnan reckoned that with Indian support, the days when PAS faces obstacles in winning the support of non-Muslims may well be over.

I suppose he has sort of got carried way by the ‘bridging’ issue, forgetting we Malaysians have had terrible experiences with bridges, whether those bridges concern one supposedly magnificent specimen that somehow got nowhere but cost taxpayers more than RM1 billion, or the smaller decrepit versions that lie in appallingly broken state across irrigation canals and rivers in rural Kelantan, posing dangers to the unfortunate kampong users.

Around 50 Indian Malaysians from Selangor, Perak and Kelantan were among the 600 people who packed the hall. Not to be outdone, the Chinese Malaysians were there as well.

The non-Muslim Chinese had come to join as members of the PAS Chinese supporters club which was set up last year. And among those Chinese was one bloke who has had some election experience – he’s none other than Ng Chee Pang, the 22-year-old independent candidate who contested in the recent Batu Talam by-election in Pahang.

I wonder whether PAS 'consulted' Ng on his campaign strategy, which we gather was to do nothing and hope for the other candidate to withdraw or get disqualified. Maybe PAS might have even offered to help ameliorate his loss of deposit in the Batu Talam by-election?

Since Gobalakrishnan stole the thunder with his bridge to th moon, Ng decided to deal with more earthly matters by his praising PAS. He said: “PAS steady ... PAS party baik (good).”

Wow, I haven't heard the flattering term 'steady' for quite a while. I am glad Ng has introduced a fresh breath of air into local politics.

PAS national solidarity bureau chief Mujahid Yusof Rawa made a speech confirming that multi-racialism was enshrined in the party’s constitution. PAS intends to foster racial unity in the country.

He said the success of the Chinese supporters’ club in improving awareness about PAS among the community was reflected in the club’s need to increase its Chinese-language monthly bulletin from 5,000 to 50,000 copies.

And that’s not all - PAS will also publish a Tamil-language monthly bulletin to inform the Indian community about the party and its struggles. This time it was Mujahid who got carried away, as he is already planning to set-up similar clubs for the Kadazans and Ibans in East Malaysia.

And the icing on top of the kueh badak berendam was an assurance by PAS vice-president Mohammad Sabu that there would be no forced circumcision for non-Muslim members.

He joked: “What are they afraid of? Hu (head of the Chinese supporters club) is here to testify that his condition still remains in the original state.”

But on a more serious note, to sum up the frustration of the Indian community with Humpty Dumpty and the Barisan Nasional (BN), businessman Rajandran Batumalai from Batu Caves, Selangor, said he and his friends heard from Indians in Kelantan about PAS’ equalitarian policies and treatment of non-Muslims.

Rajandran, who incidentally was a former MIC member, said many Indian youths in BN-ruled states were deprived of advancing socially and economically because of racial discrimination.

A sad but brave tale

I've just posted Tempurung of rice at BolehTalk.

UMNO Putera's rempit-ish bounty hunters

Maybe the North Pole may be too hostile, maybe the European-Russian-Canadian nations may not welcome further pollution, both of the technological and human scum kinds, maybe the polar bears are too dangerous to meddle with … ?

So Putera Umno has launched another wondrous idea for the people it desires to recruit as Brown Shirts. It wants to turn those street retards into bounty hunters.

Yes sirree, Putera UMNO will reward Mat Rempit with motorcycles for helping police detain snatch thieves.

The police haven’t made any comments yet as this is fairly new, dropped like undesired though not unexpected pigeon poo as in all UMNO Putera’s rempit-ish proposals. And like pigeon poo, we just keep getting this avian sh*t non-stop.

The junior political wing of UMNO said the incentive was one way of curbing snatch thefts in the Baling district and to encourage the illegal racers to be police informants.

Its chief obviously still can’t make up his mind whether he wants his future Sturmabteilung to be police informants or scalp-harvesting bounty hunters – there’s a world of difference between the two, but then, why should he bother with that difference when ambiguity in politics is an art to cultivate.

But if we combine police informant with pigeon sh*t, since we are getting 2-in-1 types of poo from our amazing future national leaders, we get ‘Stool Pigeon’ or if you want to be bloody more obvious ‘Pigeon Stool’.

But hey, it’s not all that easy, because he has set a minimum target of 30 snatch thieves at RM50 per head before those bikkies can take home the motorcycle prize.

Maybe the bloke has heard of the old saying 'Set a thief to catch a thief'?

But the Baling public have to watch out as those motorised bounty hunters may well varoom suddenly on you, oh you succulent RM50 target.

Hah, the Attack of the Stool Pigeons, or did I say Pigeon Stool?

Related:
Only under a rempit-ish government

Farish Noor: "Worse racism to come"?

Remember my posting Beautiful rojak rejected as Malaysians where I highlighted the most disgraceful attempt by a government minister to conduct ethnic facial landscaping in our media industry.

None other than our local Yusuf Goat-balls announced his intention to come up with a Malaysian Mein Kampf which will contain racist ‘guidelines’ aimed at reducing Eurasian faces from TV and billboards.

With such an offically announced policy of racist discrimination, our local Eurasians have been made to feel less Malaysian than some illegal Indons, southern Filipinos or Paki-Banglas. Thus they have instead become the aliens, or second class citizens of rojak pedigree.

Well, noted social scientist Farish Noor wrote in the Khaleej Times that:

“Despite the often-repeated cliché that Malaysian society is a multiracial melting pot, those who know the country know that mixing between the races has always been minimal. What is more, it would appear that the Malaysian authorities would like to keep it that way."

He lambasted the Yusuf Goat-balls’ race-based guidelines, that discriminate against local Eurasians, as typical of the moral and ideological morass that Malaysia is in at the moment, where the official discriminatory “call for the defence of racial and ethnic essentialism is symptomatic of the political uncertainty of the times.”

Farish Noor spoke of such similar discriminatory calls against Eurasian ‘faces’ by earlier Yusuf Goat-balls in Malaysian political history. But he reckoned this time the “latest knee-jerk reaction to racial and ethnic pluralism” has been even worse and indeed worrisome because it came at a time when Malaysian society is teetering on the brink of slipping into yet another politically driven racial/ethnic crisis.

He was obviously reminding us of the unmitigated racist conduct at the recent UMNO general assembly – unmitigated because the PM and DPM had allowed the unfettered seditiously racial utterances and misbehaviour.

Farish Noor lamented the disgraceful spectacle of “UMNO party's leaders taking to the podium, brandishing their keris and … of right-wing ethno-nationalists taunting and challenging their leaders to use those very same Malay daggers that they had unsheathed in public.”

He also pointed out “UMNO leaders rubbishing the notion of a ‘Malaysian Malaysia', dismissing the concept of a plural society as one that was confused, hybrid and mixed-up.”

Remember that Johor bloke who wanted the Malays (meaning UMNO members) to be the pivotal race in Malaysia, and sneered on multiethnic society as un-Aryan rojak.

Precisely because of this recent history of UMNO racism, he put Yusuf Goat-balls discriminatory policies in the context of a rising right-wing mobilisation in UMNO. And may I add to that the example of UMNO Youth’s demand for an UMNO Chief Minister in Penang - a demand that's driven by an ambitious young bloke wanting to find a ‘prominent role’ among the higher echelon of UMNO.

Farish Noor lamented that at a time “when practically all of Asia is on the move and Asian nation-states are caught in the mad rush to celebrate multiculturalism as their main selling point, our own leaders are bent on doing the opposite.”

He advised that “Malaysia's selling point is precisely the fact that it is a multi-racial melting pot where millions of Asians have come together, inter-married and produced a nation that defies ethnic and racial compartmentalisation. If Malaysia wanted to advertise itself to the world as a model of multiculturalism in action, it is precisely those ‘hybrid, mongrel' faces the country should be showing to the world.”

And he asked Yusuf Goat-balls to pause and remember the ethnic origins of some of Malaysia's leaders like Onn Jaafar, Hussein Onn and Mahathir Mohamad, who “have exhibited an uncanny proclivity to be multiracial themselves.”

He warned that, while Yusuf Goat-balls' disgraceful discriminatory policies might sound silly and be quickly forgotten, given the increasing racial polarisation, Goat-balls’ announcement portends more terrible things to come.

And Farish Noor is absolutely correct because we have already witnessed some examples like the bullying demand for the Penang's CM position, the surrender of Penang's waterboard chairmanship to a Malay by the sudden inexplicable resignation of his Chinese predecessor, fabrications that Penang Malays have been marginalised (since proven false when Penang Malay community were found to have fared far better than Malays of several other UMNO-administered states), unnecessary but ferociously vicious demolitions of Taoist and Hindu tenples, the bigoted demands and threats of the recent UMNO general assembly ... etc.

It's a period of instability for the nation when UMNO presidency changed hands, UMNO factions jostled for positions, and new ethnic warriors seek appointments of strategic importance and power within the party, with young ambitious turks believing they can leapfrog (or motorcycle or wave keris) to the top.

Notional 'enemies' must be selected for focusing the followers attention and wrath onto, and away from their leaders failures. Yesterday the Chinese were the targets, today the Eurasians, tomorrow ...?

Only under a rempit-ish government

I love Yusri Nuqman's letter to malaysiakini titled Why I want to be a Mat Rempit – what a sweet-vinegary contribution to the malaysiakini's 'readers letter' column of 2007. I have reproduced it the missive full below:

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All this while, jumping out from an airplane was a thrilling adventure that remained a distant dream for ordinary folk like me. No, not because I haven’t the guts to jump but it is just that I simply cannot afford to waste my hard-earned money for just a couple of minutes of thrill.

But when I heard that Putera Umno is planning such a trip to the North Pole using taxpayers' money, it got my adrenalin pumping again. To realise my dream, I will definitely fill-up the form and become a Putera Umno member and be eligible for that ringgit-burning mission. At least, I can make my race and Malaysians proud with my ‘Malaysia Boleh!’ act.

But before that, I need to send my 'kap-cai' motorbike for some modifications so that it can run at a breakneck 180km per hour while emitting a high-pitched whine. And I’ll have to learn how to do some daredevil stunts to qualify me as a 'Mat Rempit'. Of course, I’ll have to leave all my manners and 'budi bahasa' at home whenever I go out for my midnight bike racing until the wee hours of the morning.

The reason for this is simple as my hooligan peers bow to no rules or laws and we need to be 'cool' all the time. The free-sex 'bohsia' girls who hang out with us Mat Rempits will also have no respect for me, too, if I try to behave or show respect to other road users.

I know that I need to be a real Mat Rempit to qualify for North Pole trip. Hey, Putera Umno needs to select 10 Mat Rempits for the trip and I know that the competition will be really stiff because there are hundreds of thousands of Mat Rempits now.

After all, this is one of many opportunities awaiting me to have fun at Malaysian taxpayers' expense. Being a Putera Umno members and a Mat Rempit will certainly pave the way for many more privileges in my life, beginning with that thrilling jump at the North Pole.

Perhaps, I will become the first person in the world to jump to execute a daredevil stunt on a 'kap-cai' in freezing temperatures over the North Pole.

More importantly, I want to prove that foreign critiques about 'Malaysia Bodoh' are totally wrong. Wouldn’t it be nice to join a bunch of hooligans and get sponsored to do a fun jump at taxpayers’ expense?

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Then, for the icing on top of above cake, visit Mob Crib’s to see how our talented mob1900 has amazingly encapsulated UMNO Putera’s proposal to pollute the North Pole with Mat Rempits into a poster.

All I can say of mob1900’s work of art is “wow”, and of Putera UMNO’s proposal, well, may I repeat mob1900’s message: “Please don’t come back”.